Hey all. Since this is a new board with not too much happening yet I figured I would just ramble about my kitesurfing experience so far (1 week into it so far!)

My wife and I both wanted to get out and something a little more active so, after looking around, we decided on kite surfing. We have got three Water Foil kites (one of each size) and two directional boards.

After practicing with a 2 line stunt kite for a couple of weeks we finally felt ready to go out with one of the power kites (nearest lessons are about 1200 km away). I have been told I would probably need the 5.7mÃ‚Â² waterfoil for kitesurfing in winds up to about 20-25 kts. With this in mind we took the smallest kite (2.4 mÃ‚Â²) down to the beach in about 15 kts figuring it would just tug at me a little.

The first time I launched it, it took me down the beach about 10 steps ... I knew that this was going to be fun . Within about 10 minutes I had the kite at azimuth and was hanging on the bar, totally stuffed from the effort (desk job boy). Then the kite started pulling me all over the beach (very empty beaches here). My best effort was a 20m face down drag straight into the water . My wife couldn't stop laughing. I could have let go of the bar and bought the kite down on the brakes (all the kites are set up for 4 line mode) but that wouldn't be as much fun!.

The next day we took the small kite out again in about 15 - 20 kts and started body dragging through the water. I was ok at this but my wife had trouble just holding the bar. Every time the kite went through the power zone (ie every time she tried to launch) the bar was pulled out of her hands.

On Saturday morning we had a much lighter breaze so we took the 3.6mÃ‚Â² kite out. This time my wife could (mostly) hold the bar and she got some decent body dragging practice in. As we walked back up the beach on one go a dolphin was playing right at the shore line. It looked like it was scratching itself on some rocks there but I think it was actually chasing some small fish.

Sunday was too light to go flying ... hopefully this afternoon I will be trying the board for the first time.

Always make sure, that if you play with the kite on land, nothing is in your way which may hurt you.
But if you have large beaches, than this is no problem.
The most injuries happen, if play with the kite on the land, so always be careful.
Did you use the depower loop yet?
If not, you can control the kite better because you take away power if it is too much.
When you use the board, make sure that the kite develops enough power to get out of the water. You can achieve this by flying it from the highest point in the powerzone down to the water. Then you get pulled out like if you are waterskiing.
If you get the kick out of the water, go a little downwind, before you start to edge.
Then start flying sinus curves until you are sliding and hav enough power to hold the kite in one position where it still pulls you.
Let me know how it went!

...as far as i know, the waterfoil is a regular 4-line setup RAM-foil - so if there is a depower-loop, it won't be a great help

if you guys have problems flying kites and using the board, try a bigger kite in lighter winds. even the 3mÃ‚Â² waterfoil is a very small kite which is used by expierienced kitesurfers in very strong winds.

if you have trouble with the starting (i.e. getting pulled on the board), there's a good way to learn:
try to get an hour of wakeboarding at a waterski lift (or if not available, behind a boat). this will make you learn the process of being pulled on the board without being dragged downwind by the kite and without concentrating on anything but the board.

and another important thing is:
never fly a traction-kite when there are offshore or onshore wind-conditions!
this is a very dangerous thing, offshore winds might let you loose the kite to the sea or even worse!